I was always amazed whenever my father whistled. I’d stare at his lips to see if they formed a special shape. My babysitter could do it too so I asked her several times to teach me but she, just like my parents, said that it wasn’t appropriate for a girl to be able to whistle.
“But Sophie can whistle. You too. Mom too.”
I never got a proper response. I only knew that it was impolite to whistle. It was impolite to even ask whether another person, if she was a female human being, can pull it off.
Earlier today I was trying to teach my dog another way to call her. I tried to whistle, and there were weird sounds coming out of my lips. I asked my mother how she could do it, risking another long speech, but she only answered me with a short “I don’t know”.
I was wearing a pair of men’s shorts, Birkenstocks, and a men’s tee. I was squatting and learning to whistle. My mom just looked at her plants and said nothing. I still made sure no one was around before I started whistling, but how things have changed in a decade.
